A set of papers of various grades were characterized both on the optical and physico-chemical points of view. Then, they were all printed with the same color ink-jet printer by the use of a quadrichromic set of inks. Their performances were compared to one another by both densitometric and colorimetric measurements:- Classical densitometric quality criteria (solid density, dot gain, relative contrast index,…) were evaluated.- Color gamuts were determined;- Print-through properties were also measured.With the help of some theoretical considerations, we recognized a possibility to classify the behaviors of the papers at least qualitatively. The print-through determinations allowed to evaluate the penetration of the colorants into the paper and to confront the results with print rendering criteria. The final target is to derive an evaluative method for further investigations.